Monday, October 27, 2014

Week Six in Mexico

So first off there weren't any transfers this week for my district so I'm safe for another six weeks! I'm super happy because I get to stay with my comp and with my investigators and in my house! And my house is a million times better because we have gas now so we can cook and I have hot showers. Just in time for winter. Except it's still like 80 degrees here...

But this week was good! I finally got my package from Dad so Elder Moya and I have been jamming out this whole week. I was happy to find out that we don't have transfers this cycle but I found something about my house that gives me nightmares, and now I want to move.
Black Widows! I found four of them just outside my house. Like on the walls outside or in the doorway. I killed all of them but am afraid that there might be more... but whatever. Once winter comes they will all freeze to death and I'll be safe. Plus, I always check my bed before I sleep and I shower with shoes on so I'm always prepared in case of a suprise attack. But seriously, don't worry about this. I'm just a baby and over-reacting because they are all outside and we don't have spiders in our house. I can tell, because of all the flies and cockroaches that are still alive in our house.

But umm.. this week has been pretty average.. We only had one investigator come to chuch this week which was a big let down considering we had 8 last week. I guess we just need to try harder this week.

I guess, because I don't have super crazy experiences, I'll just share with you my favorite things about being a missionary.

1. I get to read the Book of Mormon for like an hour every day. This is probaby my favorite part that doesn't have to do with other people. Seriously, I didn't know how much I loved reading until I read the Book of Mormon. Every morning I get to read it and I read it at night and whenever I can. This is one thing that I hope won't change after my mission.

2. I get to talk to people all day about the Book of Mormon and about God and Jesus and eternal families. I think this message we have to share is the coolest thing ever and it makes me so happy that I get to share it with everyone for two years and seeing the difference it makes in people's lives is incredible.

3. No school

4. Free lunch every day

5. I get to learn Spanish

6. I get closer to God every day here.

7. I heard that if you're a missionary your family at home will get blessed so I hope that's true. Fam, you ll have to tell me about that one.

But love you all and hope you have a good week! And shout out to all my fans you guys are the real heroes, because without you I wouldn't be where I am today.

Love, 
Elder St John

Monday, October 20, 2014

The Solo Gringo

So this week was pretty good, its starting to get really dark at night here so I feel safe all the time... But any way not too much happened this week. I had to take a 40 minute bus ride to some place in the middle of nowhere called Janos to get fingerprinted for my Visa so in a few short weeks I will finally be an authentic legal Mexican and that's really exciting.




The beautiful desert of Casas Grandes
Uhh.. what else happened..

This week we got some more investigators from contacting so that's cool.  
One of our current investigators set a baptism date for November 2nd so that's really exciting! Especially because I might be the one to baptize him! I hope I do because it will be my first!  We had 7 investigators attend church this week which is awesome, because I love it when my investigators follow through with their commitments.



The beautiful Church of Casas Grandes

I talk more in the lessons.. really badly but I can still do it so that makes me happy because even though its hard for me to speak I still love to try. But it's coming a long better every day. poco a poco.
Umm.. not much left to say.  Transfers are this next week and I'm hoping I get to stay here a little longer because that will be really sad.

Also I'm glad you think my letters are funny because I can't tell jokes in Spanish so everyone here just thinks I'm super serious or mad all the time and it's kind of annoying getting called "serio" or "enojado" all the time, so I try to smile more and that's helping a little bit.  But the better I get to know the language the funnier I am. And I reallly hope these two years don't kill my sense of humor..

It sounds like everyone back at home is doing great! I love getting the updates from everyone! It's cool to think that for a short time there will be three St Johns out as missionaries!

Nothing left to say, so Love you all and have a great week!

Love,
Elder St John

Monday, October 13, 2014

Week 4 I Think..?

So it's been about one month since I got here and that's actually really crazy to think about because I remember when I had one month in the MTC and I though that went by fast... but holy cow I think that my whole life right now is on fast forward.

So this week was awesome! A lot of cool stuff happened. So we talked to the Vazquez family this week and they all said that they wanted to get baptized which is amazing. An entire family of 5! How cool is that??? and I'm starting to understand Spanish a lot better now. I don't have to look at my companion to translate every question I get asked so that's helped a lot. I'm starting to adjust to waking up at 6:30 every morning so that's getting a lot easier. My showers are getting colder so we are going to have to get heating fast or else I'm just going to start my mornings off as a popsicle.

ALSO I had the best meal since I've been in Mexico. There is this hermana in our ward who alwas gives us American food, like one time hamburgers. But she ordered pizza this week and it was soo good. Not because of the taste, just because I haven't had pizza in a long time.

But this weekend was really special, Wednesday the other two elders had a baptism and I got to go watch it and it was really cool! I also got to help fill the font, and grandma we almost flooded it, but I remembered your warning so we made it back earlier than we should have and stopped it just in time. Seriously the water was like 3 cm below the last step... The baptism was awesome I had to say the opening pray and sing with the other elders and it was really cool.

Sunday was good too because we had 8 investigators come to church. Eight. It's crazy because we where only expecting 4 so that was awesome. And I love seeing people progress while we are out here, it's the best thing ever seeing people change their lives for the better.

Monday, October 6, 2014

Three Weeks in Mexico

This week has been pretty uneventful I think... I still have no baptisms and no one with a date, but we have a few investigators who are close!! So that's exciting! Also this week we found out one of our investigators is a witch and has like dreams or visions and she has a Santa Muerte in her house. I don't really know what that is so you guys will have to look up what that means..  But my companion and the other two missionaries in my district where freaking out... But it's almost Halloween so I think it's perfect timing to know a witch.

But this week was good, the weekend was awesome though. Saturday we did divisons so i was with Elder Almaraz and slept at his house so that means I got a hot shower for the first time in 3 weeks which was amazing and I almost cried. But then all day Saturday was spent in the church watching Conference and that was good, except it was all in Spanish with no English subtitles or anything so I couldnt understand most of it. But I got the general idea of most of the talks so that was good! Sunday was the same. I slept at Elder Almaraz's house and so I got to have a hot shower again.

To answer your questions Dad: 
I don't have any hot water, the only warm water is when it gets hot from the pipes being in the sun. and I think we will get gas in the winter, but I'm not sure what we will do...
At the MTC they gave me a water filter which I use to drink the water and brush my teeth, or we just put water flavoring in the water and that kind of helps.. but when and investigator gives me water I drink it, and no one has gotten sick from it so i think its alright if you only drink a little at a time.
My house has electricity, so we have a fridge and a gas powered stove and a microwave so we can cook pretty much anything we want, except our stove ran out of gas Wednesday, so we will probably get more gas soon.

It's pretty here. There aren't any yards with grass, mostly just weeds but it is surrounded by small mountains so it reminds me a little bit of home.

Also here in Casas Grandes, there is a group of people called Menonitas which are a bunch of people from Germany that wear overalls plaid shirts and straw hats and they speak German or Spanish, and that's weird..  But a lot of the Mexicans here think I'm a Menonita so that's always fun to get. At least I don't stick out a ton here because of the Menonitas. I'm not the only white person here...
But love you all and miss you tons! Talk to you next week!

Love, 
Elder St John